Another Day in the Life of an Airport: Variety of Aircraft at St. Louis Downtown Airport

By Carmelo Turdo

St. Louis Downtown Airport, home to the Greater St. Louis Air & Space Museum in historic Curtiss-Wright Hangar 2 and a host of very interesting aircraft, is the third busiest airport in Illinois. A variety of home-based and visiting aircraft can be seen on any given day, and today's aero experience was no exception. Aircraft active on this cold fall day included an AT-6G Texan, Piper Aztec, Piper Sport, Piper Saratoga, RV-7, Mooney M-20F and more.  There is a very special jet on display in front of the museum - a Lockheed Jetstar once owned by Howard Hughes. Visit the museum Friday-Sunday 10am-4pm following this weekend's holiday break.

  

Sightings: Road Trip to Pinckneyville and Sparta Yields Interesting Finds

By Carmelo Turdo

A recent road trip to the Pinckneyville and Sparta, IL airports produced some great experiences. On the way to Calvin C. McDaniel Field, a visit to see the T-33 Shooting Star on display at the Pinckneyville City Park and Fair Grounds was in order. The aircraft, T-33A-1-LO s/n 52-9663, is a good early example of the U.S.A.F. jet trainer, but without wing tip tanks. Surrounding the park are railroad facilities and great small-town storefronts that add to the charm. Next came Sparta's Community-Hunter Field, where an RV-4 was seen on a refueling stop and a Cessna C-150G made an approach to the runway before departing. Here are some scenes from the trip, including some trains that seemed to be everywhere.

Pinckneyville, IL and surrounding areas

Sparta Community-Hunter Field

      

Women in Aviation Is Theme of Presentation at Maplewood, MO Library

By Carmelo Turdo

Libby Yunger, Chairman of the Greater St. Louis Ninety-Nines, recently gave her presentation, "A Century of Women in Aviation," at the Maplewood Public Library in celebration of National Aviation Month. The Ninety-Nines, an international organization of women pilots, was founded in 1929 by the first ninety-nine licensed women pilots including Amelia Earhart.  Yunger discussed the contributions of women in aviation from Katharine Wright to the present, focusing on those women who broke barriers by being the "first" in various areas of aviation.  Here are some examples.

Katharine Wright: Influenced the development of the Wright Flyer, 1903+

E. Lillian Todd: First women aircraft designer, 1910        

Therese Peltier: First women to solo in a heavier than air powered aircraft, 1908 
Elise Deroche: First women to earn international pilot's license, 1910
Blanche Scott and Bessica Raiche: First American women to solo, 1910
Harriette Quimby: First licensed American woman pilot, 1911; first woman to cross the English Channel, 1912
Ruth Law: First woman to fly non-stop from Chicago to New York, 1916
Bessie Coleman: First black woman to earn international pilot's license, 1921
Women's Air Derby was started in 1929, leading to women's involvement in air racing

Amelia Earhart, undoubtedly the best marketed woman pilot of all time, was the first woman to: fly the Atlantic Ocean non-stop as a passenger in 1928, fly solo across the Atlantic Ocean in 1932, fly a solo transcontinental round-trip flight also in 1932, fly solo from Hawaii to the U.S. mainland in 1935 and was lost attempting a round-the-world flight in 1937.  Yunger commented, "If I ask a group of non-pilots to name a woman pilot - it's Amelia Earhart.  I never hear any other name but Amelia Earhart...And I think that's because there's just this mystique: 'What happened to Amelia?'"  75 years later, that question remains unanswered.

 

Other topics covered included air races with male competitors to the present day; women's service in World War II and subsequent armed conflicts, including combat roles in current conflicts; aerobatic champions including Betty Skelton and Patty Wagstaff, and women astronauts.  

Aerospace Community Mourns the Loss of Rose Church, Flight Nurse to the Astronauts

Rose Church in Mercury

By Carmelo Turdo

The aerospace community mourns the recent loss after a brief illness of our dear friend, Mrs. Rose Church, the "Flight Nurse to the Astronauts" during the budding Mercury and Gemini spacecraft programs at McDonnell Aircraft Corporation in St. Louis, MO.  Starting out as an industrial nurse at McDonnell Aircraft in the early 1950s, she essentially created the job of flight nurse for the space program when McDonnell Aircraft became the prime contractor for Mercury and later Gemini spacecraft.  Her work brought such esteem from the astronauts, many of whom went on to the Apollo program, and the NASA hierarchy that she was invited to the last Space Shuttle launch as a VIP guest nearly 50 years later. 

She continued to educate the public about the space program after leaving McDonnell and during her second career in real estate, and was a life member of, and generous contributor to, the Greater St. Louis Air & Space Museum at St. Louis Downtown Airport in Cahokia.  She will be remembered not only as an aerospace pioneer, but even more so as a lady who showed kindness and service to all she encountered.  Rose Church dreamed of going to the moon - her plan was a one-way colonization mission for older folks - but those who knew her are confident that she is now far beyond the moon, touring the universe with the One who created it.

Flight Nurse Rose Church with McDonnell Engineer Norman Shyken

Rose Church at the Greater St. Louis Air & Space Museum

Rose Church with Norman Beckel at Mac Retiree Luncheon

Rose Church Receives Museum Life Member Award with Fred Wear

 

 

For more information about Rose Church, please visit the previous posting on The Aero Experience http://aeroexperience.blogspot.com/2011/07/rose-church-flight-nurse-to-mercury-and.html and the Missouri Historical Society's biography page at http://www.historyhappenshere.org/archives/7300.